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Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury wins dual moguls gold at World Cup event in Japan

Feb 24, 2019 | 1:01 PM

TAZAWAKO, Japan — Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury captured gold in the dual moguls World Cup on Sunday in a duel with Japan’s Ikuma Horishima.

Kingsbury won with 87.94 points, finishing ahead of Horishima (86.63) in the super final. The small final was between Australia’s Matt Graham and Britain’s Ben Cavet, the latter winning with a third-place finish in the competition.

“With each duel, I felt better and better. I was going faster and bigger in my jumps and I also knew that on the other side of the bracket, Ikuma was skiing really well and very fast,” said Kingsbury. “When it was time for the final, I talked to my coaches at the top of the course and we made a last-minute decision to do a 1440 cork like I did the day before. I didn’t have time to think about it. I landed the 1440 and then skied as fast as I could. I managed to cross the line before Ikuma.”

The native of Deux-Montagnes, Que., also won gold on Saturday in moguls.

“It feels great to win two gold medals here in Japan, especially since I finished second twice behind Ikuma last year and lost the final duel to him. So this is a bit like payback,” said Kingsbury.

Laurent Dumais finished ninth, just behind fellow Canadian Philippe Marquis, who raced opposite his American friend Bradley Wilson.

On the women’s side, Chloe Dufour-Lapointe finished fifth in her race against Australia’s Jakara Anthony. Chloe’s sister, Justine, finished seventh after losing to the American Jaelin Kauf. Perrine Laffont of France took gold.

The Canadian Press

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